The Australian Environment Foundation (AEF) is a not-for-profit advocacy organisation. It has disputed the values of some mainstream environmental assertions, and also on occasion the evidence used to support those assertions. The AEF is climate-change-denying, pro-logging, pro-big business, anti-

wind energy Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ...

, and against the Murray-Darling Basin plan.

History

The formation of the AEF was first mooted at the Eureka Forum organised in December 2004 by the

Institute of Public Affairs The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a conservative non-profit free market public policy think tank, Political links and networking The IPA Victoria was founded during World War II by businessmen in response to the feared growing power of ...

(IPA) and a number of resource user groups. It was formally launched on

World Environment Day World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated annually on 5 June and encourages awareness and action for the protection of the environment. It is supported by many non-governmental organizations, businesses, government entities, and represents the ...

(5 June 2005) in the northern New South Wales town of

Tenterfield Tenterfield is a regional town in New South Wales, Australia, situated at the junction of the New England and Bruxner highways, along the Northern Tablelands, within the New England, New South Wales, New England region. At the , Tenterfield ha ...

. The founding chairman was former Labor federal environment minister, Barry Cohen. A subsequent chairman was gardener, author and television presenter

Don Burke Donald William Burke (born 16 July 1947) is an Australian television presenter, television producer, author and horticulturist. He is best known as the longtime host of ''Burke's Backyard'', a lifestyle program produced by his wife's company ...

. Reporting on the AEF's launch, the Melbourne broadsheet newspaper, ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' wrote: "Dr Marohasy said she acted as the group's leader as an individual and not part of the IPA." At the time of registration, the registered office was the same is the registered office of the IPA. The group stated in its press release that "This new group will be vastly different to the established environment organisations that have had the ear of governments for some time. The AEF’s focus will be on making decisions based on science and what is good for both the environment and for people". The organisation has been labelled a "fake environmental group" by community advocacy organisation

GetUp! GetUp! is an independent progressive Australian political activist group. It was launched in August 2005 to encourage Internet activism in Australia, though it has increasingly engaged in offline community organising. GetUp! is an independen ...

. In May 2014 the AEF came under criticism for lobbying for the de-listing of Tasmania's World Heritage

old-growth forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...

Personnel

Former directors

* Jennifer Marohasy, former director * Barry Cohen, inaugural chairman of AEF, former ALP environment minister *

, former chairman

References

External links

* {{Conservation and environmental foundations 2005 establishments in Australia Climate change denial Conservation and environmental foundations in Australia Environmental charities based in Australia